The World Cup is Big Business, but Why Don’t Americans Care So Much?

The World Cup is a big deal and big business, and it has the world as a captive audience. Except, that is, the United States.

With billions of dollars of business generated by this event, it’s clearly a global centerpiece for the sporting world. And, for people who absolutely obsess over soccer. Or football, as some call it in their home countries.

An interesting little article on the Freakonomics site shared some stats that jumped out at me. Specifically, the site shares figures that indicated that the 2014 Super Bowl garnered over 110 million viewers, while the 2010 World Cup Final got just over 24 million. So, the big game in the sport we call football got 4 times more viewers than the big game (match?) in the sport much of the world actually calls football.

My Soccer Riot Experience

My eyes were opened to how popular soccer is in many parts of the world when I was in Europe when the Euro 2000 was going on. I had never heard of this European Soccer tournament, but apparently it’s a massive deal there. At least it was back in 2000, as I found out when visiting France.

To make a long story short, I was at the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris when I heard a huge roar come from the city below. It was odd, and I had zero clue as to what that could have been for. It almost seemed like some kind of earthquake.

Then, a few minutes later, right as I was coming down from the tower, there was a second roar. And then cars were driving around honking and people were out and about. Again, I had no idea what it was.

We got on the Metro, which was suddenly halted before we reached our destination. We were ushered out and had to walk the rest of the way, but ended up in the middle of a big crowd of people celebrating and going nuts. That was when I found out that France had won this tournament. Apparently, the first roar was when they tied the score at 1-1, and the second roar was when they scored the go-ahead goal to make it 2-1.

It was crazy. I even saw bottles thrown, and police with shields running. We ducked into a restaurant that ended up having its glass shattered.

Yes, I found myself in a soccer riot. Thankfully, we didn’t get hurt (though I did see a few people with injuries and lots of damaged storefronts). That’s when it dawned on me just how important soccer truly is to many people around the world.

My Current View of Soccer

Personally, I think the World Cup is cool. My interest in it has grown, and I certainly want my home country’s team to win. Go USA!

However, it just doesn’t captivate me like other sports might. I’m not yet at the point of caring much about the other games, and don’t pay much attention to any other game not involving the U.S. I do find it fascinating just how passionate much of the world is about soccer though.

Put it this way: I’m almost embarrassed to admit that if I had to spend money on a ticket to a pro football playoff game or a World Cup game, I’d choose the pigskin over the soccer ball any day.

Why is that? This just isn’t something that will compel me to spend much time or money. I think it might be because when growing up, many of us were just kind of taught that the most important sports were football, baseball, and basketball. Maybe hockey in northern climates. And some people like to golf or play tennis. But soccer was something people may have played in childhood and that’s it.

At least that’s my theory.

But I see things changing just a bit. More people, this time around, are truly focused on how the U.S. does. I even hear conversation about other countries matches, which wouldn’t have happened in the past. This seems to be getting mainstream.

Maybe as more kids are influenced by this, it will change more. One of my kids is in soccer now. Really though, I think that the U.S. team making a serious run could change things long-term.

Then, maybe more money and time will be spent on the World Cup here at home.

What do you think?

What’s your level of interest in the World Cup?

In terms of your willingness to spend time or even money on this event, how does that compare to other events (such as the Super Bowl, for example)?

What do you think it will take for this to become as important in the U.S. as it is around the world?

Share the post "The World Cup is Big Business, but Why Don’t Americans Care So Much?"

Comments

I have some interest. I always root for Team USA. Defiantly some buzz around my office about the cup. Agreed if I had money to spend on tickets for a live sporting event Soccer would be very low on the list. Lack of scoring might be a factor. Does your causal fan want to see a 0-0 game?

You know, I overheard someone saying the same thing about low scoring tie games. I suppose many people are used to the constant action of basketball and maybe even football. Maybe that’s a part of it too, at least here in the U.S.

I played soccer in high school and watch the World Cup as a casual fan. I’m not hardcore by any means. The one thing that really turns me off is how some players overreact when they get hit. They act like they were seriously hurt when they were barely touched. I’m not calling out soccer here either. This act is becoming more common in basketball as well. Luckily the league fines players for “flopping”, but it still takes away from the game.

Soccer seems like a popular sport to play in my area – both kids and adults play on local fields every weekend. And I think the popularity of the sport nationwide is gaining, but the low scoring factor is an issue. Maybe someday it will be as popular as football.

It seems like it’s gaining in popularity. Not anywhere close to the level of traditionally popular sports here, but it’s getting more fans. Not sure it’s close to supplanting the higher profile domestic sports though.

Soccer suffers from the same type of disinterest as hockey here in the USA. I admit, soccer is low on my list of sports in terms of what I watch or follow, but on the other hand, I am a pretty avid hockey fan, which many of my friends and family don’t ‘get’.

Well, here in the upper Midwest, there are a lot of big time hockey fans. Locally, there have always been some hardcore hockey fans considering Chicago was one of the “original six” hockey cities. However, with the local team being really successful in the last 4 or 5 years, hockey has skyrocketed in popularity it seems. Winning help bring about interest!

I think it’s interesting to see that more people are interested in soccer over time. Since I come from Canada, hockey is definitely more familiar to me, but I just read an article that said in Canada, there are more soccer players than hockey players. I’m pretty interested in the World Cup actually, just to see who makes it to the next round, but I don’t really watch the matches.

That’s interesting…more soccer players than hockey players in Canada today. I’m sure a generation ago, it had to be different there. While I live in the US and have my whole life, I have family in Canada, so I’m very aware of how important hockey is to people there.

Wealth-Building Financial Lessons

Disclaimer

We are well meaning folks that are not investment professionals or financial advisors. Please feel free to have fun here, and take this information in the spirit of entertainment, as it is not financial or legal advice, For that, seek an appropriate professional. Your actual financial decisions are your own responsibility. Thank you.